The Guardian Games
by KanaMac
Summary: Following a terrible tragedy, Jamie Bennett and the Guardians are forced to create a dangerous game to gather fragments of a soul that once belonged to a hero. The game is a test to see if a fragment is hiding within the children of the world. A larger sinister force works against them as the family once again tries to save the world. Welcome to the Games.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.**

 **A/N: It's at the end**

 **Thank u for choosing to read this story!**

 **Author: KanaMac**

 **()()()()()()()()**

The Man in the Moon was dying.

As a natural satellite, not many would assume that it was possible for the moon to die. However, Manny is no ordinary satellite. His soul was a jagged shard of shadows and light. His soul kept the balance between darkness and purity, predator and prey, fire and water. The soul itself was balance. As many would know, balance cannot last forever. At one point, whether today or tomorrow, or years from now, the balance will be lost and the scale will tip to either side. Shadows and light.

Manny was losing to the shadowy side of his soul. He could feel the dreadful, cold dark creeping and eating at his light. He was so weak, unable to speak. He didn't even have the power to contact his Guardians. They would never know. They would just wonder where he had gone and continue worshiping a dead figure... He just wanted to die already...

The Man in the Moon jerked up.

Fear began settling in like a snake coiling around his soul. His thoughts had just taken a negative turn. The darkness was settling in farther and faster than he had anticipated.

A sudden, odd feeling struck the soul. The blanket of stars and galaxy that was his home was abruptly ripped away from him and he began to

f

a

l

l.

Manny watched through his soul as his physical moon self became smaller and smaller as he fell. He fell through the mesosphere and the stratosphere and everything around him became a blur of soft whites and blues. Manny wasn't afraid. He knew he was falling to the Earth for a purpose. He did everything for a purpose. He had never fallen from anywhere in his whole seemingly immortal life. Gods- he never even moved for one reason.

It was because everyone and everything always came to him. Humans in spacesuits came to him to prove for science. The Guardians came to him to speak their worries and secrets. Ghosts found comfort in his bright aura that lit up their dead souls. Supernatural beings came to ask of their purpose. Manny had provided for them all for billions upon billions of years. This could only mean one thing.

He needed them.

As realization struck him, so did the ground.

Coming to Earth took its toll on Manny. Most of his soul, both light and dark, had degraded considerably. All that was left was a glowing ball the size of a human fist that swirled with shimmering gold and pulsing dull grey. Manny looked around and realized that he was on what humans called a 'street'. It was 'spring' and his soul was lying in the 'grass'. There were children laughing and playing in the 'grass' while the Man in the Moon was dying. The thought both angered and saddened the soul.

One child with imploring brown doe eyes and a gap between his two front teeth, noticed the glowing round ball in a ditch in the road and ran over to it. He ran a hand over his running nose and wiped it on his vest. The other children called his name and his mother yelled at him to get off the road. The child ignored his friends and cradled the soul gently in his warm hands as if he knew that it was a being that he held. He slowly walked to the side of the street where he examined the ball carefully.

Manny watches this with excitement and a plan begins forming in his head.

The greyness of one side of the soul begins to pulse harder and cover up the light side. He was still dying.

The young boy gasps suddenly as the ball sears gold and burns the flesh of his hands. He drops it into his lap as the Man in the Moon lets out one last burst of energy and light, the side he favors. Manny feels the normal power erupt through his soul one last time. He feels guilt as the trembling child nurses his hands while backing away from the burning soul.

 _Boom,_ a giant bang sounds and his whole soul erupts in one huge explosion of lights. Fragments of his soul shrink and contrast as it tries to bring itself back together within the outburst.

The pain was great. Flaming, red hot pain expressed in golden ropes flashing out of his soul. The child watched as wails of pain echoed through the Earth in terror and awe.

The Man in the Moon looks at the boy and says something under his breath. With the roars still resounding, it wasn't possible for any being to hear.

The light and dark of his soul both die down.

With one last roar, Manny dies.

 **()()()()()()()()()**

The young boy who just witnessed the death of the moon sat motionlessly and stared at the wisps of smoke emitting from the dull ball that lay three feet away from him. His ears just began to take in the sounds of police sirens wailing and his mother shaking him by the shoulders. Everything feels surreal.

"Jamie. _Jamie!"_ cries his mother.

The boy groans as he breaks out of his trance. His blurred eyes take in the dark asterisk marks on the ground from the death and police swarming the scene, bellowing orders and questioning him. Then, his mind blanks out as he sees something.

The soul was no longer in the center of the marks staining the ground. The ball was _gone._

Jamie rubs his forehead before jerking back from the feeling of his scalding palms making contact with skin. He could have sworn the sphere was still there...

His eyes drift to his panicked mother who screamed, "What happened? What was that? Was it a bomb?!"

Jamie wanted to sleep. He wished this was all a big nightmare and that tomorrow he would start going to school again and nothing weird would ever happen again. Fate probably had more exciting ideas.

A policewoman kneeled before him and gently knead his shoulder. Her gold name tag read 'Kate'. Her eyes were eager and brimming with curiosity that Jamie couldn't find the strength to deal with. She comforts him and wraps bandages around his hands and asks him a question.

 _What did you just see?_

Brown eyes glazing over, Jamie slumps into Kate's arms. Still barely conscious,

he brings his lips to the policewoman's ear.

"I saw...n-no, I _heard_ something. I-I heard..." Jamie paused and coughed, groaning.

 _"Non omnis moriar."_

 **()()()()())()()**

 **A/N:**

 **Hello! Thanks again for reading chapter 1! I'm posting chapter 2 shortly, so keep an eye out for it! Please please review/favorite/follow! They make my day! If you have any tips or suggestions to improve my stories, please tell me in a review or PM me.**

 **BONUS: In your review, try interpreting/translating the meaning of 'Non omnis moriar', I'll give whoever gets it right a shout-out next chapter ;)**


	2. Chapter 2: Lost Souls

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ROTG (SORRY)**

 **A/N: Author notes are always at the end ;)**

 **Thanks again for choosing to read this!**

 **Also I wanted to remind readers that this story takes place AFTER Rise of the Guardians.**

 **()()()()()()()()**

When Jamie went to bed that night, he knew that something was wrong. It was marked on every calendar, the symbol of the full moon tonight. It was supposed to be a clear night, yet when he looked out the window, there were no stars, no moon.

The ten year old strode to his bed and stared down at his bandaged hands. When examined by the hospital, doctors told him to keep putting on a soothing clear gel that would help heal his burns. The burns were pink and peeling, covering the bottom of his palms to his fingertips. They flared in pain at any contact.

"Ow," he gasps as he clenches his fists accidentally. The boy leaps up and runs to his dresser. "Gel, gel."

He freezes.

On top of his dresser besides the glass jar of anti-burn gel, was a large fist sized ball.

The soul.

Memories of the explosion and the voice whispering, _"Non omnis moriar,"_ echoed through Jamie's head.

Burnt hands forgotten, Jamie slowly backed away from the ball towards the door.

A sudden voice, "Jamie?"

His mother leans on the frame of his bedroom door with the hallway light outlining her figure like a halo. Her brown eyes are dull and bags underneath her eyes due to the stress.

"Bedtime, kiddo." She runs a hand through her hair.

Jamie reluctantly crawls beneath the covers, an eye on his dresser the whole time. "G'night Mom."

"Sweet dreams." The door closes.

Jamie launches himself towards the dresser and snatches the ball. Hands shaking and burning, he examines the sphere.

The ball has round and flawless. It originally had mixed colors of gold and grey within it, but now it had an odd metallic sheen on the surface where Jamie could see his haphazard reflection in. Jamie unwrapped some of his bandages to feel the ball and was surprised to discover that the surface had a lukewarm warmth to it, like a creature was deep in slumber beneath the smooth shell. He tapped it, tossed it, banged it, but there was no reaction. The sphere stayed the same.

 _Non omnis moriar._ What had it meant? Who told him this? Was it some sort of sign from the aliens who lived on Jupiter? Was it a-

"New toy?" an amused voice asks.

Jamie lets out a sound between a shriek and a snort as he quickly shoves the warm sphere into the vicinities of his striped pajamas. His eyes dart to the bedroom window and he sees the delicate fern patterned frost that swirled all over the glass. Then he notices the new chill to the usual stuffy spring air and he turns around to face his best friend, Jack Frost.

The immortal teen leans on his staff with a cool smirk. His snow white hair and skin seem to glow in the night and his eyes sparkle mischievously.

"Jack! You came!" Jamie faked a smile. "It's the middle of spring! What brings you to Burgess?"

Jack let out a hearty laugh, "Yeah, this darn spring is taking its tole on me!"

"Don't melt on the floor! I just got this rug!" Jamie forces himself to laugh as well.

Looking up at his friend again, Jamie realizes how long it's been since he's seen Jack. As usual, he hasn't changed one bit. The child throws himself at the spirit and a muffled shout comes from both of them as they crash to the floor in a huge embrace. Jamie wraps his little arms around Jack's waist and snuggles, while Jack protectively wraps his cold arms around his first believer.

Then the warm greyish ball rolls out of Jamie's sleeve.

"Jamie, what is that-"

" _Nothing!_ " Jamie screamed, grabbing the ball and retreating to his bed with his back the confused frost spirit. "I mean, nothing..."

For the first time, Jack notices the pale strips of bandages wrapped around both of Jamie's hands. Anger flares in the pit of his stomach. He takes the child by the shoulders and turns him around.

"Did someone hurt you?" Jack asks in a low voice.

"No! I just...burnt myself when I was making...tea..." Jamie stutters.

Sensing the lie, Jack narrows his eyes, but backs off. "Alright. I believe you."

Jamie lets go of a breath and the two boys sit on the floor across from each other awkwardly. The rug beneath Jack begins to crackle as it freezes and Jamie rubs the back of his neck hesitantly.

"Look," Jack sighs, "Setting all of this aside, I needed to tell you some news."

"Oh, okay." Jamie internally breathes in relief that Jack wasn't going to ask him about his hands or the odd ball.

"As the Guardian of Fun, I hate to burden you with these things, but I have really bad news." Jack whispers.

"What?"

Before either of them could take another breath, A long feminine scream pierces their ears, making Jack jump up at the pain of a child and Jamie bolts out of his room and down the dark hallway to a room.

Sophie's room.

The scream continues without pause and Jack is forced to cover his ears and lurch after the boy.

"Jamie!"

Jack skids into Sophie's room and sees his believer squatting next to the young girl's convulsing body on the pink sheets. Her eyes are open, rolled back into her head as her mouth opens for air for another even higher scream. Her blonde hair is covered in cold sweat, plastering to her ghastly pale cheeks as she. Jamie is shaking her with all his might, trying to jerk her out of the awful trance.

"Let me," the spirit comes to his senses and speaks. Jamie steps aside and watches anxiously as his friend rubs his fingers. An intricate, crystalline snowflake appears between his digits and it automatically flies to Sophie's trembling nose and bursts. Blue static runs along her face as she rises to consciousness and her screaming and the spasming stops. She droops onto her bed and sighs tiredly, quickly falling back asleep.

Jamie drops to ground numbly, his sister's screamed still ringing within his head.

"This was what I came to tell you about, Jamie." Jack finally says. He tightens his grip on his staff. "It's Sandy."

The brown eyed boy's chest tightens. "What about Sandy?"

"He's missing. Sandy is missing." was the softly spoken answer.

Images of golden sand trickling from window to window and giant living figures of dream sand flash through Jamie's head. _Sandy._

"W-we have to find him!" Jamie shouts. "A search party! A-ah, you can sense other Guardians or something can't you?! Use your powers or something! Anything!..."

"Jamie," Jack says in an even softer tone. "He's not the only one."

Jamie's stomach drops to his toes like a rock.

"Pitch Black is missing too. Sandy _and_ Pitch are _missing._ "

 **()()()()()()()()**

Perhaps telling a ten year old boy that two powerful spiritual figures were missing wasn't a good idea, considering he had just watched his little sister have a terrifying fit in bed.

Even worse was the idea of taking the said boy to North's workshop while he was unconscious. That idea was commonly known as 'kidnapping'. Jack did not do any of this because he is a very good and smart Guardian...or he told himself so as he flew rapidly through the sky towards the North Pole.

A few minutes prior to this, Jamie had just crumpled to the ground after hearing that Sandy and Pitch were missing. Carefully, as not to wake him, Jack scooped him up and flew him to North's place. Halfway there, the spirit of fun realized that he had a snow globe in his pocket and the whole idea of flying to the Pole was silly.

In a shimmering burst of silver, gold and candycanes, the two were standing in the middle of a quiet workshop where a few yetis were busying themselves with untangling the elves from Christmas tree lights. It was spring, so the crew wasn't so busy yet. North, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

Jack shifts Jamie's body onto his left shoulder as he flies over the giant oak door where the large man of wonder is usually found.

Without thinking twice, he summons the wind to open the door and it does with a grand creaking flourish. Inside, an angered yelp sounds out at the same time something shatters. Pieces of ice spray onto the floor besides Jack's bare feet. There is stomping and a large, buff man cradles his head in his large hands.

"Phil!" He shouts with a Russian accent. "How many times have I told you to-Jack?"

"North!" Jack stands in the doorway. "I brought Jamie. And sorry about your ice sculpture..."

"Is no big deal!" North waves a tattooed hand marked _Naughty._ "Now you've brought first believer, we can all talk about Sandy and Pitch!"

 **()()()()()()()()**

 **"** Ah!" as if a pail of cold water had been thrown into his mind, Jamie is wrenched from his sleep.

Deep in his heart, he had this rising anxiety inside that would boil over soon if he didn't do something about it. It was what awoke him. Jamie had never stepped foot into North's workshop, yet he knew where he was and his brain automatically knew every nook and cranny of the place. Before he knew it, his legs were leading him out of the small cot on which he woke up on.

His destination appeared in his head like a movie picture. It was a spacious balcony with mahogany railings and tapestries hung over a roaring fireplace. But best of all, a huge globe was spinning slowly outside the room with thousands of little firefly-like lights decorated upon its surface. That was where they were. The Guardians.

Jamie burst into the room and was surprised to see the exact place he expected. The Guardians, without Sandy, stood in the center, conversing. They stopped when they saw the little boy. Jamie dazedly slid his hand along the solid railing of balcony and gaped around the room in awe.

Then, the boy's eyes fell onto North.

The anxiety that had been rising suddenly boiled over and he stiffly walked over to the man.

The large man sensed something in his belly that there was something up with Jamie.

Jamie wriggled uncomfortably as if he was fighting an invisible fight within himself. At last, he burst out, "North, _he_ told me _Non omnis moriar. Non omnis moriar_ is what he said... He's gone now I think..."

A silence is cast upon the members of the room. Even the elves who were goofing around stopped their jingling. It was like Pitch had entered the room and dumped his nightmare sand upon all of them because each Guardian's eyes turned stony with fear.

At last, a single word breaks the silence; a needle sinking into nothing.

"Man in Moon," North says in a hushed voice. "is gone."

A nearby yeti faints, causing the ground to tremble as his bulk hits the floor. Everyone snaps out of their stupor. The Guardians immediately butt heads and argue about the issue. The sound of chaos was like an inexperienced band who decided to play all at once. Jamie tries to back away from the noise, but he ends up tripping over someone's cup of eggnog and landing painfully on his behind.

"EVERYBODY SHUSH." roars North.

Jack and Bunnymund look up from their brawl.

Tooth finishes her panic attack and lands from her flight.

The Guardian of Wonder storms over to the fireplace and grabs an ornate sword with a silver handle that hung above. He brandishes it at an unknown enemy while everyone watches. He mutters and grumbles under his breath while pacing agitatedly.

"You all know what this means!" He declares at last, whipping his weapon in circles. "We all knew this day would come! Now is time! _Non omnis moriar!_ We must activate the Games!"

 **()()()()()()()()()**

 **A/N: I know only about two people are probably reading this (unless you're a nonnie), but I want to give the promised SHOUT OUT to** **Yondaime Namikaze** **for translating the quote from last chapter correctly and for being an awesome and kind person and reviewing! Thanks Yondaime!**

 **Don't forget to review/favorite/follow!**


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